Burton Kruglick, a three-term chairman of the Arizona Republican Party who is credited with modernizing the party and helping to shepherd the state from Democratic to Republican control, died on Feb. 12 at the age of 91.

Raul Hector Castro, Arizona's only Hispanic governor and an American ambassador to three countries, died Friday. He was 98. Family spokesman James Garcia said Castro died in his sleep in San Diego, where he was in hospice care.

On the morning of Oct. 15, I spoke with Sen. Jorge Luis Garcia over the phone. Little did I know that my first interview with him would possibly be the last time he would talk to a reporter before passing away ...